CD1 Tracklist:
1. 3x!13 - on the last episode of sxb... (0:46)
2. 3x!13 - today i go for the gusto (3:56)
3. 3x!13 - warning sign (3:17)
4. 3x!13 - extra card (3:07)
5. 3x!13 - car chase (5:19)
6. 3x!13 - because single word titles say so much more than lyrics (6:24)
7. 3x!13 - one day, they come back to town (3:04)
8. 3x!13 - monster (3:04)
9. 3x!13 - 03 (3:50)
10. 3x!13 - looking at points beyond the focus (6:51)
11. 3x!13 - first place (4:12)
12. 3x!13 - imaginary units; point (4:15)
13. 3x!13 - burning (3:30)
14. 3x!13 - bandages (1:38)
15. 3x!13 - dots in a sandstorm (3:33)
16. 3x!13 - there's only one way to float in water without an airplane seat (4:00)
17. 3x!13 - tearing me apart (3:26)
18. 3x!13 - upon entering the final city (feat sigma wave) (4:27)
19. 3x!13 - it's time to close the curtain (farewell) (5:35)

CD2 Tracklist:
1. 3x!13 - 01 (4:16)
2. 3x!13 - sky turns into landscape (2:19)
3. 3x!13 - escape (0:28)
4. 3x!13 - the final hit single (6:08)
5. 3x!13 - i wonder if it remembers me (sleepless dreams part 2) (3:17)
6. 3x!13 - she's gaining on us (5:16)
7. 3x!13 - slowly; inside (3:36)
8. 3x!13 - let me see the real you (4:24)
9. 3x!13 - echo sutures (4:30)
10. 3x!13 - stonehenge sunrise (3:16)
11. 3x!13 - dreams of fights you never got into (4:50)
12. 3x!13 - make it go away (4:22)
13. 3x!13 - go out dancing (5:18)
14. 3x!13 - doubleyou (versiontwo) (5:14)
15. 3x!13 - somewhere in a city at night (beautiful in headphones) (6:58)
16. 3x!13 - fat chants (3:16)
17. 3x!13 - perfection is you falling (ft. hanna) (4:50)

Electro? Post Rock? Alternative House? LoFi? Grunge? Game music? 80s? Progressive? How in the world do you clasify 3x!13?! What's for sure is that this best of album contains a healthy dose of character and a whole lot of chutspa. This is the real deal, underground music like it should be. 3x!13 reaches down into each and every one of us. These tunes contain some of the sweetest melodies since Zelda came out and changed the course of humanity, as well as vague, catchy, and particularly smart lyrics.

rain. exploded shards. treeline outline greay. music by numbers in mud by feet, feel out the sound by sight. popping inwards while working out wounds in the 2-D monophonic boombox atmosphere. halloween at the 3 year mark, the journey never feeling an end; beginning with every other chord. dry heaves and synthetic textures overlaying the cartoon zombie insides, letting the good turn to bad as it makes way for sleep. as an unnatural fog gathers in the higher corners, the low thumping and bassline takes over the baseboards.

Cover Art By: 3x!13

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--on the last episode of sxb...--
last discussion, we learned that we don't have the time to second guess ourselves, or second guess your motives.
"well, there you have it: 3x!13 makes a shortass almost-punk pop song."

--today i go for the gusto--
it's never hard to fool you, dear. a face so pretty, but nothing behind. so i'm going to see a movie.
"early early attempt at rock+electronic...good fun to record it was"

--warning sign--
let's hide away until the sun brakes. leave the forest just for a change. and i will be there to lift you up. don't hurt your hands when the lights go out. so your 'someday' is here now, you're leaving now. on a blanket across the sea...i'll see you next winter. when the time comes, i'll fill my sails and hope the tide is on my side. please to keep your hands and feet inside at all times.
"doubtlessly my favorite set of lyrics ever...would that i could write like that always"

--extra card--
"just fun with a string machine and beatboxes"

--car chase--
"first time i'd tried recording my new electric guitar...came out so nice and thick/twangy, decided to expand on the idea for 5 minutes. bass also came out quite nice, and the whole thing just snowballed from there. i think it was supposed to be kinda hardcore at first, but then it turned into just evil evil triphop. just a nice addition to my 'machine bass' era, lightning bolt really fueled that for me."

--because single word titles so so much more than lyrics--
now i blame myself for everything that went wrong, it's in my head. have to blame myself for every time that it rains and i'm not there.
"fun with guitar resampling and irony, hehe. and also fighting myself to make sure crashes and hi-hats would cut off long before they naturally would; that's a weird thing i have going on. also one of the few songs where the fretless guitar didn't come out sounding dead as all hell. the airy synth at the end still grabs my fancy"

--one day, they come back to town--
"was just showing a friend what i could do with a heavy mod-delay and an acoustic. songs come at you from outta nowhere sometimes. still no clue why i never hooked up the electric for this, it's far easier to record than the acoustic. the overall vibe though, i LOVE; the massive droney shit is my favorite to make."

--monster--
somewhere along the line i felt it break. there's almost nothing left of what it used to be and my sinuses leak a little more. hiphop heyday lost words lost breath lost sense of time lost myself between lines: college-ruled existance. can you explain where we went wrong? can you guess why i'm writing this song? it's not exactly what you think, there's only one reason for blue ink. permanent like a dental record, don't let your grades slip. there's nothing like the way you fall, and i'm watching you the whole way. it seems a shame to win this way, but i'll take what i can get.
"more evil triphop, i love this shit! i guess it'd be odd to say that the lyrics don't actually have any meaning, so i won't say it. anyway, i like putting the focus OFF the intelligible vocals from time to time."

--03--
so you've put your pretty on. you're going out tonight? i see a car pulling up to your house. ring the doorbell, talk to your dad. someone is waiting up tonight; i see the light in the living room. walk in with excuses, walk upstairs and talk to teddy bears. walk in with a virus, walk upstairs and tell your diary. just like nothing ever happened. walk on just like nothing ever happened.
"just got my good mic, recorded all the vocals crammed in the bathroom in one shot. pretty little song about...a stalker? rape? prom? teenage pregnancy? an absolutely normal date?"

--looking at points beyond the focus--
"well, this one even took ME for a loop...starts off nicely nintendo-y, then suddenly goes bass, then acoustic, then metal. what the hell happened here? to be honest, i don't know. i'm glad it happened though. i remember x-files being on in the background the whole time, the episode with the giant alligator."

--first place--
it's all i want: to see your face one last time before i'm out, soak it in and swallow it down, remember what i liked about you in the first place. (we should be awkward now) like a lumpy pillow propped against a rock, like a pringles can that's only full of ant bites, like a pair of underwear that's put on backwards, like a rest stop bathroom. like a 3am tv sans cable service, like a first date accompanied by your parents, i got to second base before they realized where my hand was. do you remember what i liked about you in the first place? (we should be awkward now) like a beer run with a fist full of change, like a long walk with someone you used to crush on, like the day you figure out what's in your pants pocket, like the day you tell them all he got you pregnant. like divorce rates making news with bigger pie charts, they never take the hint and try to work it all out. do you remember what i liked about you in the first place?
"tempo changes and vocal layers like mad, it must be 3x!13!! actually, most of this song pisses me off except the last minute or so."

--imaginary units; point--
"my new electric coming to save the day again...DAMN that thing's got nice tones sometimes. partial samples are some of my best friends too. i believe 'gangs of new york' was on in the background when this was bein recorded; i hate that movie. one of the earliest times i used the MicroKorg through a guitar amp too, that's a sound i won't soon stop using"

--burning--
seconds last hours. gone for good and i never guessed. follows smears across time. you were gone when it collapsed. fell without help. as i sat outside classified cigarette burning. inside i was whole. you were lost, map was wrong. light shines through. touches wall. melt it down. flowing. previous excitement wore thin, it's the self destruction. glasses that have hidden. now i need a warmer jacket.
"earliest instance i can think of where anybody actually liked 3x!13, definitely also set the stage for things to come. just wish i'd had my guitar back then, that could've helped out a bit i think."

--bandages--
"i like to do guitar ditties from time to time. heavy delay, a lot of reverb...i'd like to think it's a welcome distraction from the louder electronic sounds."

--dots in a sandstorm--
"more synths+samples+guitars, these are fun to try to get mixed right sometimes. the bitcrushed drone/melody was what told me i should finish up, it just kinda sneaks in and out of hearing."

--there's only one way to float in water without an airplane seat--
"i like the changes in this one. they weren't planned at all, just a product of what i heard as being accented in the beat and guitars. another example of just what can happen when you push to not link the drums 'right'. i like the ride falling off so bluntly; and then the off-kilter hits in the middle."

--tearing me apart--
"a rollercoaster pilot reject, but for the better; i needed those few+rare stress relievers in the middle of recording RCP between december and march. more korg-through-guitar-amp sounds, i love how grungy that thing can get. original working title: somebody's theme song. also had a FAR worse ending at first."

--upon entering the final city--
i see a city in the sky, birthplace of laughter and light. upon the garden by your house, sit back watch the world go by. couches of fluffy pillow down. relaxing chase away your cares. within a starry moonlit night. kiss you, turn into a smile.
"i love those chimes, so 'fantasy movie' sounding. can't really say much else, i think the mood of this one speaks for itself. just imagine rockin this while the Crystal Palace suddenly pops into view from behind the other meteors...even though i was watching Willow when the idea struck."

--it's time to close the curtain (farewell)--
"started off as just another guitar ditty, complete with the weird digitech pitch shifter. something drove me to 'complete' it though, and once i got the korg on it, it was too late to turn back. the title was really only a gesture towards the guitar-driven 3x!13 (not 3x!13 entirely), as the bulk of those ideas are now being put towards RCP."

--01--
when was the last time the sky pastel you fell into flowers and laughed until you thought you'd choke on leaves that rained from the sky and the moon craters. when was the last time they formed a face that cheered you up and brought dreams of being there laying on your back and looking back at the big blue orb. when was the last time you thought you could fly; you wanted to fly. i try to hard to have it all and start to fall into the walls that surround me. into my own designs, fluctuating empty space.
"conceptualized at the NYE party i went to for 2006, just kind of the shit i think up in cars. ending bassriff and gutiar sample was just a kind of random thing i came up with. think of watching a sunset sky through the sunroof of a car."

--sky turns into landscape--
"was really just fuckin around with some new samples and vsts. once again; a song that came out of the blue for no apparent reason except to be made. i like when those hit me, i get more beat ideas than when i already know the path of the song."

--escape--
"another guitar ditty, this one wasn't even supposed to have drums, wasn't recorded at any real tempo."

--the final hit single--
"a song written around the beat. typical 'wintery' music for me; i feel laid back when the weather's cold, and i can focus more on the atmosphere of the song instead of forcing in some random shitty hook. this one's got a hook, yeh, but it's there cause it was comfortable."

--i wonder if it remembers me--
"another song made while x-files was on the tv. that doesn't really affect the type of music i make; it just keeps me from putting hours and hours straight into it; keeps me from frustrating over stupid little things. just wanted to make a darker instrumental hiphop song, hadn't made one in a while."

--slowly; inside--
"i made the intro for this SO very very long ago. i think it dicked around on my hard drive for about 3 years before it finally got used in summer 2004 for this song. now i wonder if i should've taken a different approach to the song in relation to the intro. oh, the fun of second-guessing your own intentions :P wouldn't have happened if the guitars+synth had been crappy though, i love the progression and texture they pick up. parts still sound to me like it's barely hanging on to being sane."

--let me see the real you--
"one word: damn! i'd been chasing this kind of sound+groove for years, then finally got it. another one of the first songs to use the korg+amp extensively (well, as extensively as the minimalness would let me). i still never feel like this song lets up on it's aural assault somehow; even when it calms down, seems there's still something lurking around in the back that maybe you should run away from."

--echo sutures--
"another precursor to Rex Around Town; it would be a RAT reject if i made it today (it's right, but not minimal enough). makes me miss having the Science Channel, i caught a nice marathon of specials on comets+asteroids when i was writing this."

--stonehenge sunrise--
"more vst foolery, and watching science channel. i particularly liked the rhythm the rides made when i was chopping the drum loop into pieces."

--make it go away--
"listened to a bit too much pj harvey (heard 'the wind'?) then wrote this, with the mass-glitch ending in mind the whole while. was definitely the first time i hand-glitched one of my own tracks; i've done it on a million remixes before though. was frustratingly time-consuming; kept finding problems with the music itself that would have to be fixed, then start all over again with the glitching."

--go out dancing--
"the very first official rex around town reject; was just too damn happy. then the guitars at the end were very anti-club. but very much opened my eyes as far as making electro that wasn't decidedly loud..."

--somewhere in a city at night (beautiful in headphones)--
"first track where i started off knowing it'd be brutally electro. was the most fun i've ever had making music that i only programmed instead of playing parts. that whole album is in the middle of an 'almost live' remaking if i find the time to do it ;) "

--fat chants--
"this one just starts off so gay!! i have no clue how i managed to work on it long enough to iron all that out."

--perfection is you falling--
"i love hanna's vocals, on 3x!13 and rcp stuff the same. i can't remember the lyrics anymore, write 'em out for yourself if you're really that concerned about it."

Visit Postunder for more unique electronic music releases!

Postunder Records - http://www.postunder.net

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews